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The centennial dream of the Serbian people about the completion of the Temple of Saint Sava will come true these days, but the difficulties that the church encountered during its construction will remain, especially those related to the period of the communist regime, which did not allow the continuation of the works suspended in 1941.
Its walls stood like a crown of thorns over the head of Belgrade, and as the years passed, hope was lost that they would ever allow the sanctuary to end. After four decades of silence and a total of 88 applications, the then Patriarch Herman succeeded in persuading the state in June 1985 to issue a permit to continue construction.
Citizen rebellion
However, before that, the communists cleverly tried to deceive the church, that is, instead of the Temple, they offered Patriarch Herman to build a Museum of Frescoes on its walls. The news appeared in 1983 in the weekly NIN, and after its publication, the public rebelled, and a score of citizens, religious and priests, painters and poets, asked to be received by the patriarch. The organizers of the meeting were then the monks Amfilohije and Atanasija, and among the guests was the academic Matija Bećković.
Academic Matija Bećković talks to “Blic” about how Patriarch German’s conversation with that delegation was.
At the beginning of the conversation, he says that the period of communist rule significantly slowed down construction, so it was feared that the Temple of Saint Sava would never be finished, and the statement of the then officials aroused suspicion.
– The eldest son of all our peoples and nationalities affirmed that this temple will not be built while it is alive. In other words, never, since he was immortal. The first with him, Edvard Kardelj, suggested that the circus finally be built on time-honored foundations. Then the idea was modernized and it was concluded that the place was ideal for an urban garage. However, the communists did not notice any of that and it seems they distrusted the Vracar field, so they deserve the glory that it remained there until 1985. They could have built Fairy Waters or Konjarnik, so they could say they would like to build a temple there, but what to do with those skyscrapers. After all, one thinks that perhaps they did not move away from the “clairvoyant ashes”, says Bećković.
Indecent offer
He adds that after all these incoherent proposals, in 1983 a new one appeared, more suitable than a circus and a garage, that is, it was published in the press that the authorities offered the German Patriarch the construction of a Museum of Frescoes on the walls. of the Temple of San Sava.
– It was a move from a standstill, but it was still an indecent offer. Faced with this news, the monks of the time, Amfilohije and Atanasija, organized a delegation of about 20 artists and architects, who asked to be received by German, to explain what it was about. I was among them. The patriarch informed us that after many years of useless requests to get what was possible at that time, and that is to build a Museum of Frescoes on the walls of the Temple. He also confided to us that it was discreetly given the appearance that the project for that building would be such that it is not ruled out that it could eventually be transformed into a temple. He stressed that we have to manage to survive and that the most important thing is that we fight so that the place is not desecrated and the church of Vracar removed – explains Beckovic.
He says that all participants expressed their fear that by accepting a compromise, the church itself will give itself and Vracar and the temple and Saint Sava.
– After the explanations of other members of the delegation, I also took the floor. I said that it seems that the blackened walls of the Church of Saint Sava speak for themselves, they mostly resemble us and our faith, they faithfully reflect the position of the Serbian Church. And as they are, they are more than enough to be a Serbian wall of tears. Of these walls, there is no temple more holy, more beautiful or more suitable for us. I also said that our people understand that they must get by and that no one should blame them for not being able to build the Church of Saint Sava, but for believing that they can preserve the walls. If you keep them, it may turn out that you did not survive, but disappear. And such coping, I told him, no one will understand or forgive. After those words of mine, Patriarch Herman said: “We did not sign anything and since we said yes, we can say no” – says Bećković.
“Clairvoyant ashes”
He explains that shortly after, the sensational news that the construction of the Temple of San Sava was approved resounded.
– When that decision was made, the president of the Serbian presidency was Dušan Čkrebić and he deserves to be mentioned in this story. After all, I am happy that Saint Sava was resurrected with the construction of the temple. Vasko Popa said that the clairvoyant ashes were in Vracar and that a temple was built from those clairvoyant ashes, which the Serbs say that Sofia can also be seen from there – the academic concludes his testimony.
Political decision and the role of Čkerbić
The Serbian Orthodox Church appreciated the fact that Dušan Čkrebić signed the decision to continue the construction of the Temple of Saint Sava, for which in 2007 he was awarded the Order of Saint Sava. Five years before that, he wrote in the author’s text:
– I knew that the prohibition to continue the construction of the Temple of St. Sava made after the war was in fact a political decision, taken at the political peak of Serbia, and not in the Assembly, and that it had no legitimacy. It was maintained and transferred for years to the new elected bodies and leaders, so it was never presented by any competent state body. I, by force of circumstances, like my predecessors, followed such attitudes and gave negative responses to the requests of the German Patriarch and the Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church to allow the continuation of the construction of the Temple. However, when I was elected President of the Serbian Presidency in May 1984, I calculated that it was possible to change that political decision and I succeeded.
Lavrov in self-isolation
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is in self-isolation after contact with a person infected with the crown, and his visit to Serbia has been postponed. As part of his two-day stay in Belgrade, on Thursday October 29 he was to attend the ceremony to mark the completion of the interior design of the Temple of Saint Sava.
VIDEO: St. Sava Church opened for St. Friday visitors
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